Smile
by Iamthecookieninja
Summary: ...Because that was it, what they had was gone and dead and never coming back.


"_Takane's smile is pretty!" Haruka grinned, quickly drawing a sketch of her previous smile, now long gone. Hauka pouted of the girl._

"_Smile again! I want to draw Takane's smile so I can always look at it." _

_Said girl glared at the boy, still cheerful as ever__._

_"Stop it. You're __girl rolled her eyes __embarrassing yourself." _

"_You know," Haruka continued on "I want to protect Takane's smile forever."_

_The __and dipped her head to hide the blush adorning her cheeks. _

"_Whatever."_

* * *

Takane-or Ene now- looked across the hill at the setting sun, sending an explosion of chaotic colours across the canvas of the sky. A spectrum from dark violet, to honey amber, to rose pink. The sun's glow was bright, yet somewhat melancholy, as if it knew that its' reign was ending and that the moon would soon take its' place, but still, it shone, brightly, dazzlingly, to remind the world of its importance.

_Funny_, Takane thought wryly, _I'm not usually this poetic_.

As the sun set, the girl relieved her memories, over and over, as they toppled over one another to get into her mind, to see which could bring more damage on her weathered body.

"_Smile again, Takane!"_

"_No matter how much you change, it's not like I'll ever hate you"_

_"I think Takane is amazing!"_

"_I'll never forget you."_

"_Sorry, but... who are you?"_

"_Why do you keep calling me 'Haruka'? My name's Konoha."_

"_Takane! I've got a…girlfriend, can you help?"_

The girl gave a tart smile, as if she were challenging the sun that her situation was so much sadder than its'. The sun glared back, accepting her challenge.

"Haruka…" the name left her lips with a bittersweet feeling, like the aftertaste of a chocolate, the lingering sweetness emphasising on how bitter the end was. The girl glanced at her watch, hanging limply from her wrist, its' tattered straps clinging on to the bony limb which she called her hand. The handles indicated that it was four-fifty five.

_Just five more minutes_.

Takane sighed as she rubbed her hands, the temperature was dropping drastically now that the sun was already halfway down. She remembered the time when she thought that Haruka was her sun. Someone who could laugh so cheerfully in such difficult situations couldn't possibly be a normal person. She gave another smile, one that was a mere shadow of the one that Haruka loved.

Funny how he always talked about how beautiful her smile was despite how his was so much more than beautiful. Everything was so stupid now, she almost laughed, about them, their smile, everything. It was all dead.

_So why did it still hurt...?_

But somewhere in her heart, Takane knew that she still had a soft spot for him. She still gave two shits that Konoha was Haruka. She still got those stupid butterflies and those stupid shivers every time _he_ smiled at her, and even though she brushed off Momo and Mary's concerns, deep down inside-

_She still cared._

The emotions began to build in the girls' frail body.

_"Smile again, Takane!"_

She needed an outlet, she needed a release for all the useless, meaningless emotions that she didn't need.

_"No matter how much you change, it's not like I'll ever hate you."_

There was no more room for the thoughts to fill in her head

_Takane is amazing!"_

She looked at the sun.

**_"I'll never forget you."_**

And smiled bitterly.

"Hey…" She spoke to the gleaming orb as if it was Haruka. "It's been a long time."

"Sometimes" She continued. "Sometimes I feel sort of lonely without you."

The words began to flow out a little faster, in a hurry to get to her mouth.

"You know...you've got it pretty good in this life." The eerie silence was only broken by her words. "You aren't sick anymore." She gave a humourless laugh. "In fact, you're pretty damn strong as you are right now..." she trailed off, showing her first signs of weakness.

Her voice began to crack. "Don't you remember? When you told me that you wanted to protect my smile forever? When you sketched me in my sleep? When you used beg me for extra money for that negima special? _Don't you remember?_"

The sun gave no reply.

"Of course..." If possible, her laugh became even more sardonic. "Of course you don't remember, how could you, when I'm the only one with a one-sided love?" She felt tears burn at the back of her eyes as she struggled to keep them at bay. "But you've started a clean slate, now you're almost like a completely different person."

"And…" The words were now flowing out, she couldn't stop. "You know, you've got a girlfriend, right? She's really…she's really beautiful." And indeed she was. Takane had met her, and found that she was the complete opposite of herself. Gentle. Caring. Smart. Beautiful. Selfless. Kind. Someone that was truly worthy of Haruka.

"And you know, I get a little bit jealous of her occasionally, but that's alright because you're happy with her, aren't you, Haruka?" The pent up emotions inside her slightly-ever so slightly-began to ease.

"You've got good friends, Kido, Kano, Shintaro…" The pain was now subsiding, agonizing burn dulled into a aching throb. "They take really good care of you, and they really adore you. Looks like you got your wish granted, right?"

The sun was barely visible over the hill by now. The girl glanced at her watch again, it was almost time, but she needed to say something first, to get off her mind.

"Are…are you happy, Haruka?"

The last rays of the sun seemed to glow a little brighter upon hearing the question, as if answering it.

Takane drank in the view, for the first time appreciating the beauty of dusk and she knew that somehow, that was it, she needed to stop looking back at the past. Because what they had gone and dead and never coming back. Takane gave one last bitter smile before she turned away from the last dying embers of the sun, and knew that although she could be broken and tormented and unhappy-

She protected his smile.

And that was all that really mattered.

"I still love you, Haruka."

The words were met with silence as a lonely, lonely girl trudged to the wedding of a beloved and somebody who wasn't her.

* * *

This was my first angsty fanfiction and it's finally done! Lets party! WHOO!

Okay, party's over.

So yeah, I know it didn't really have much of a plot, and the dialogue was sorta awkward, but I just got this idea stuck in my head and it just...yeah.

Plot bunnies are evil, evil things.

It was co-written with 'Dating Advice', do you know how hard it is to switch from comedy to angst? Not fun. Seriously.

Anyway, like what I posted on my last fanfiction, I'm thinking about doing a multi- chapter fanfic, anybody think I'm qualified enough? I don't want to screw up my first multi-chap.

Thanks for reviewing, Mewsunset star, HeadphonesSketcbook and Ai-shadow chan, believe it or not, I know exactly everybody who favourited and/or reviewed my story. EVERYBODY.

Ahem, this is getting long so I should wrap this up.

Bye.


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